What's your favorite theme?

[musicman691]

I would be one who likes the new 9 Theme. I mostly use Carbon Fiber Red, and None More Black. I'm one for low light environments when working on music. Mo-Tools if I need a bright theme.

I second Hawaii Five-O and add in the Odd Couple and Barney Miller for my personal 70's triad of great TV themes.

Used to be MoTools but then I found None More Black; it has the best (for me) visibility of the wiper.

[Shooshie]

I find many of the MOTU themes interesting... for about 5 minutes. Then I HAVE to go back to one of Andy's themes. My favorites are:

Gotham
Oxidized
Mellow

But I have all that are available for the current system, and I sometimes switch around just for a change. But I always end up back at Gotham.

Sometimes I will use Oxidized for a couple weeks. I really love that theme. But Gotham just seems to be the right combination of clarity, light balance, and ambience. This is one of the greatest features that MOTU has given us, and we have Andy to thank for that, mainly.

Back when DP was glaringly white, I used to surround my workspace with open art books, propped up to give me some color in my field of vision. Since Andy's themes, I haven't had to do that. That glaring white interface was unbearable for 36 hours straight, which I did more often than not.

So... yes... Gotham it is! And Oxidized. And Mellow!

Shooshie

[Gravity Jim]

I've been using Nine for months without a desire for change. But I like Technological Romance, too. I think I'll switch to that for a while.

[Killahurts]

So... yes... Gotham it is! And Oxidized. And Mellow!

How are those working in DP9? There is probably another thread on that, but I was curious.. I have "Night" which I really like (for a darker theme), but it needs a few things to be complete. It was a holdover from 7.24, so I'm thinking the ones he did for DP8, like Gotham and Mellow, are probably working better.

[labman]

KH, Some do work better than others. There is no access to the DP9 feature of attaching controller to plugins etc. as it was a new DP9 specific icon. Otherwise, Mellow works well.

[Babz]

Definitely agree about the Barney Miller theme. One of the best ever. Also, of course, love Henry Mancini: Peter Gunn, Newhart ... Then there's all those great Quincy Jones themes like Sanford and Son or Ironside. Or Mission Impossible (Lalo Schifrin) -- hard to decide between that and Hawaii 50.

As far as DP goes, I'm ashamed to say I've never deviated from the default theme. I think it's one of those things where I'm afraid that if I start messing with that I'll never be satisfied.

Babz

[Killahurts]

As far as DP goes, i'm ashamed to say I've never deviated from the default theme. I think it's one of those things when I'm afraid that if I start messing with that I'll never be satisfied

So, so true! I think you're brilliant for taking that approach..

I guess I started this thread because I'm not satisfied with any of them.

[Killahurts]

I would also add that (I think) I'm not satisfied with any of the themes, because they are just not colorful enough. They all seem to be mostly white, black, or dark grey. Drab. I know some people like that though..

[Gravity Jim]

I picked my faves because they're the easiest to read. Not looking for flash... just something that doesn't hurt my eyes.

And the coolest TV theme of all-time is Route 66 by the peerless Nelson Riddle.

[Rick Cornish]

I'm using (and liking) Nine, which is the most modern of all the available themes IMHO, though I'd like it better with greater contrast on the on/off states of the memory and overdub buttons. I also like Gotham from AmpGUIMods for the great color palette and overall mood.

As far as TV show themes go, I have to go with "Mission Impossible" for great scoring (and bongos!) and "The Addams Family" for camp.

[Killahurts]

And the coolest TV theme of all-time is Route 66 by the peerless Nelson Riddle.

Oh, yes!

[Killahurts]

A lot of you seem to like Nine.. what am I not getting? Maybe there's a third dimension in there that I'm not perceiving..

[cuttime]

A lot of you seem to like Nine.. what am I not getting? Maybe there's a third dimension in there that I'm not perceiving..

It seems to be the one that is most in line and inspired by OSX's Yosemite and El Cap "Flat Look". I'm generally okay with it, but even on my Mac I boost contrast by using the "Dark" menu bars and Dock and shutting off transparency. I generally hate having to change brightnesses between applications, and I find a backlit LCD too bright when viewing white windows, and too dark when using apps like MainStage. If I'm using MainStage at the same time as DP, then the "Nine" theme sits well in the same brightness and contrast range, however as a standalone, the "Producer" theme works well for me as a good compromise. "Dark" is a close second, but the fonts are too hard to read for me. I think "Turkish Delight" is pretty good, but the pan knobs are just too weird (are they supposed to be turbans?). Some of the other themes strike me as bad jokes (Lattuga Gustosissima ).

[bayswater]

A lot of you seem to like Nine.. what am I not getting? Maybe there's a third dimension in there that I'm not perceiving..

I agree. To me, it looks like there is a sheet of matte plastic on top of it that needs to be peeled off.

[Michael Canavan]

A lot of you seem to like Nine.. what am I not getting? Maybe there's a third dimension in there that I'm not perceiving..

I agree. To me, it looks like there is a sheet of matte plastic on top of it that needs to be peeled off.

I'm pretty sick of skeuomorphic design concepts, I'm not a total fan of Nine, but I do like the way the Control Panel buttons aren't tape deck style, all right next to each other. I'm done with 3D for the sake of 3D, IMO 3D should be for things that need it, where it tells the brain something. I don't mean to step into 'Comparative DAW 1010' here, but Ableton Live is a great example of a non traditional DAW design that really does work in practice A border doesn't need details, we all know it's a border etc.
My favorite Themes all have minimal shading, I just don't need the distraction, the GUI of DP or any DAW in my mind is there to host the audio and MIDI tracks, it's more important that it be useful over looking like something familiar. Take DMG Audio Plug Ins or Fabfilter for instance VS Slate or Ohm Force, even PSP. Arturia are super guilty of sacrificing usability by sticking to interfaces that look like the original hardware, but make it harder to use the software. That observation has nothing to do with the sound of the plug ins,love all those companies.

I think Nine would be a great theme if they didn't muddy the contrast so much, I mostly stick with None More Black and Carbon Fiber Red, but the transport 'buttons' in Nine are great for touch screens for instance.